Hi Steven, You might look at the following: Eric Gilbert, Karrie Karahalios and Christian Sandvig. The Network in the Garden: An Empirical Analysis of Social Media in Rural Life. Proc. CHI, 2008. (awarded best paper) http://social.cs.uiuc.edu/papers/pdfs/chi08-rural-gilbert.pdf Cheers! -- Kelly Quinn Ph.D. Candidate and Instructor, Department of Communication University of Illinois at Chicago 1153 Behavioral Sciences Building 1007 W. Harrison St., MC 132 Chicago, IL 60607-7137 (312) 996-3187